This is a big deal in the Boston area even if you're not Catholic; I can't think of another time in history when as many Catholic parishes (or churches of any denomination) in an area have been closed all at once.

It is mostly due to having to pay settlements for sex abuse scandals--they have had to do a huge consolidation thing throughout the entire archdiocese, including closing/combining parishes and selling off a huge portion of the land near BC (it was actually sold to BC) that formerly housed the headquarters of the archdiocese. Dwindling attendance and donations are to blame as well though, and you can draw your own conclusions about whether those decreases have anything to do with the sex abuse stuff.

I would bet the economy has something to do with it too. If you don't have a job, you don't have money to give to the Church. Or if you are barely making your bills because you had to take a new job that pays less, same thing.